I'm in day 6 already and i can't believe i have done so much and covered so many miles - by plane, train and automobile (and motorbike!), oh and my legs feel like rubber after a 16Km trek yesterday.

Day 1 started with a flight on the new A380, a beast of a plane with over 600 channels of entertainment, a free flowing bar and just 1st class service from Singapore airlines. I whizzed around Hanoi on the first day to take in the 'Hanoi Hilton', the war museum and a stroll around the lake. The day finished with the coolest beer i have ever drunk, overlooking the main square where the cars, bikes and people just zoom about in any fashion they want - i can't believe that they miss each other.

Day 2/3 is a trip to Halong Bay - 30 of us from the hostel go and it's obvious that a serious party is going to kick off. 3 1/2 hours on the bus and then its onto the 'junk boat', there must have been 200 boats all trying to go in the same direction ?! - organised chaos. Fab afternoon though, swimming, awesome kayaking and a great lunch - lots of beer thrown in too. As the sun goes down we sit down for a feast and the beers start flowing. On top deck theres a booming speaker for the IPOD and the tunes get cranked up, and there's a secret stash of 7 bottles of dodgy Hanoi Vodka pulled out from various backpacks. I just feel sorry for the other boats around us cause no-one slept till the early hours !!!

Day 4/5/6 and it's straight off to Sapa, far North of Vietnam (36Km from China), up in the mountains and an 8 hour train ride through the night. The train surprised me, the sleeper was ok but it rocked so much, i can't beleive that there's a Kareoke in the bar of the train - what a racket!. We had another 2 1/2 hours into the mountains around Sapa where i booked a trek. A 16Km hike up and down seriously steep tracks (sort of?!) and passing through villages completely untouched by tourism. We had one tribe walk with us for 10km into our tribe village - just to sell us a $1 bracelet?. Amazing costumes and sights, they all seem so happy. We stay in a tribal village with a local family, with all the cats and dogs (if they love dogs it means thy won't be on the menu?!). It looks a bit s***ty, the kitchen is just a hole in the floor with a fire and i can't see a fridge, well there's one for the beers so the priorities are right i suppose. The evening meal arrives, chips to start?, but then we have the real stuff and it was fantastic, after a few beers the 'happy water' came out (rice wine/vodka - not sure which really!). Needless to say, 3 litres later and 30 bottles of beer then the silly games start. Theres a great crowd of us, 7 in total, my friends from Canada, Australia and NZ (and it's Aza's birthday). I blacked out after an impression of a dog, and so did everyone else!, we all slept in the roof on the bamboo floor. Morning comes with a freezing shower to kick myself into gear - i think aza's being sick somewhere. Theres a real buzz in the little vilage and when we eventually go for a trek to the waterfalls and we stumble across a wedding. i can't believe they invite us in - it's day 2 of 3 days of hard partying. we all sit with the bride & groom and the 'happy water' comes out, aza's face is pale (all of us in fact) but we can't upset them - in fact after at least 6 shots and a piece of dog meat we are all on the dance floor dancing like your dad. The whole village surrounded us clapping - mostly laughing and we were off again. A very bizarre hour and a half and a surreal moment on life. A dip in the coolest but freshest water i have ever seen sobers us all up before a big trek back up the mountain to Sapa. A visit to the night market ensures that i turn a veggie for the day - theres something about snakes, bugs, raw meat and offal that just fills the hole in your tummy!. I will eat a bug, but wait till Cambodia when i have acclimatised a bit?

Well in a quick nutshell there's a few of the highlights to date, i'm off on a 12 hour bus journey tonight to Hoi An, to get a suit measured up and sample some of the excellent cuisine.

Bye for now